Black Widow
by Mrs.BunnyPanda
Summary: She was once just an innocent girl until she was exposed to the dirty unforgiving wastes. Leaving the safety of her home to find her father, she ventures throughout the wastes making friends and foes along the way. As she searches for her father a families face appears, and she falls hard.
1. Chapter 1

"Wake up! Come on you have to wake up!"

The words echo in Cress's head. The girl rolled over in her bed covering her head with a pillow to block out the sounds of the alarm. Wait. Alarms? She jolted up, her dusty grey eyes darting around everywhere but her friend.

"W-what's going on?" Cress stood up, "What's happening?"

A teenage girl with dark olive colored skin and midnight black hair grabbed Cress by her shoulders, looking her directly in the eye.

"Cress, you need to get out of here!" the panic in her shaky voice was clear. Her heart sunk. She had never seen Amata this terrified before.

"What do you mean? What's happening Amata?" Cress was on the verge of tears, her small body trembling.

"Your father left the vault! My dad is going crazy. You need to escape! They…" She cut off for a second as if what she was about to say would end the world, "they killed Jonas" Tears welled up in Amatas eyes, "and if you don't leave now, my father will do the same to you."

Cress froze. Her father left? The overseer killed Jonas? She had to escape?

Amata shook her violently, "Cress, I know this is a lot to process, but you need to listen to me."

Amata handed her a 10mm gun. Cress's breath caught in her throat.

"Only use this in an emergency." She handed her some small black bobby pins, the ones she used to hold her hair up, "Here, you'll need these to break into my father's office. You need to hack into the terminal, and open the secret tunnel to the entrance." Tears streamed down Amata's face, "I'll try to meet you there, but don't wait for me. Be careful"

Then she was gone, leaving Cress scared, hurt and confused.

Cress looked down at the two dead bodies on the cold hard floor. They shot at her first. She had too. It was self-defense. Blood pooled around her vault boots, she felt like she was going to vomit. Her shaking hands lowered the gun that now felt like a hundred pounds as she backed away. She glanced back once more at the bodies before she dashed away.

Amata's screaming seemed muffled as she stared at the overseer's body, laying across officer Macks body. She just killed her friend's father, but she was attacked by him. She had too. It was self-defence. She was protecting Amata. She should be grateful. Amata began yelling at her, but she ran to the overseer's office, password and keys in hand.

An orange light flashed along with a blaring alarm as the sound of the squealing door echoed throughout the room. Cress watched breathlessly as the 20 ton door opened.

"Oh my god, you actually did it. You opened the vault." Amatas voice was raw from crying.

Cress didn't respond for she was just amazed as she was. The squealing stopped as the officers began to bang on the other side of the steel main door.

Amata looked at her, "Go"

Cress spoke in a soft voice, barely to be heard over the screaming alarms, "I'm so sorry Amata. He a-"

"I understand," She cut cress off, "But right now, I can't forgive you. Leave, go find your father. I have to bury mine."

Chapter one

Cress looked back to see the vault door closing. All the memories. All her friends. All her home and safety is now locked up and taken away forever.

It felt like someone poured hot lava into her eyes when she opened the old rotten door. She shielded her eyes with a shaky hand and began to stumble down the hillside. Cress's eyes finally adjusted to the bright sunlight and what she saw horrified her. A small town was burnt to the ground, broken and torn apart from what she guessed was the nuclear war. With a disgusted shudder attempting to ignore the rusted tricycle in the middle of the road, she began to walk down the broken asphalt.

The sound of a radio filled the dusty air. Cress's head snapped up from where she was watching her own feet walk, and jumped slightly at the sight of a small flying robot. Political music became louder as the robot approached. Cress dove behind a rusting, faded blue mailbox, unsure if the robot was friend or foe. The metal bot just flew by, not even acknowledging she was there. Slowly she rose from behind the mailbox, and cautiously continued to walk down what was left of the main street.

She walked up to a red rusted sign with big yellow words that spelled "MEGATON", with an arrow painted under it, pointing towards a large metal town that was behind some rocks. She stood there in the hot sun debating on if she should go. Was it a trap? Or are they nice people. She let out a small sigh and headed towards the small town. She had nowhere else to go. She had to find a place to sleep and eat. Maybe her father had stopped by the small town. She could ask questions. Cress un-holstered her gun and held it tight in her blood-crusted hands.

She slowly walked up to the metal town's front gate, an old protection repeating different welcomes in a country accent.

"The bomb is perfectly safe, enjoy your stay" it said as the gates to the town slowly opened. Though Cress could barely hear it over the sound of the metal gate opening, she froze. Bomb? The old robot chirps another welcome and turns away from Cress. She forced her legs to move towards the metal gates. She kept her gun in hand, just in case this town wasn't like her. She wasn't risking anything.

Cress looked around the town. Houses that seemed to be made out of old plane parts were built on top of each other, making it seem just a little crowded. At least it was better than the town she just had walked through. Or what was left of it. She looked down a dirt path and gasped. A nuke bomb right in the middle of the town. Was it still dead? Was it still active? How the hell do people sleep with that thing right outside their door? Her thoughts were interrupted by an overly friendly man in a cowboy hat and duster.

"Hey there young lady. Welcome to Megaton. We don't get many friendly visitors. As long as you stay out of trouble, you're welcome to stay as long as you want. I'm the sheriff of this metal heap. Name's Lucas Sims." He smiled at her, his teeth oddly white for one to be out in the wasteland.

She didn't respond, scared she was going to say the wrong thing.

His kind expression faltered slightly, "Oh, well. I hope you're not a crazy silent psycho killer. I don't want to kill anyone anytime soon." He gave her another smile, which she returned to show she wasn't that bad.

"Sorry sir, I'm just not sure what to say, because I don't want to say the wrong thing." Cress's words were barely audible.

Lucas peered at her. "Did you just crawl out of one of those vaults?"

Cress stayed silent, but nodded.

He stared at her for a moment then shook his head, mumbling something to himself. "I suggest you visit Moria. She could help you. A lot."

Cress nodded then let her gaze drift back to the bomb sitting in the middle of the rusting town, Lucas followed her gaze and frowned. "If you're wondering if it's still alive it is. I don't trust the locals around here to tinker with it. I just wish I could do something about that damn thing. It's hard to sleep at night knowing it could go off at any moment." He shook his head, "But we have no other place to go, this place makes enough money to make a living off of. It's better than getting mauled by a Yaoi Guai or enslaved."

Cress stood there, her mouth slightly open as she gawked at this man. Is nowhere safe? Her heart sunk. If it's so dangerous, then her father could already dead. Her father never seemed to be one to put up a good fight sadly. He was just a doctor. Or so she thought. Maybe he was something more. She gritted her teeth as the friendly man started talking about the people of the town. Her father always seemed distant. Like he was scared if he spent too much time with her he would tell her something. Suddenly Lucas said something about a man about 30 years old visiting not too long ago.

"Wait, what about the man?" She suddenly became interested in what he was saying.

He stared at her for a moment then repeated what he had said, "I said that a man that was wearing the same vault suit just left here a couple hours ago. I don't know where he was headed though, you're going to have to ask Moriarty, he's in the bar in the upper part of town. Why are you so interested in this man?"

Cress looked at him with serious grey eyes, "He's my father. He tried to leave me in Vault 101. Now I'm tracking him down. I want answers."


	2. Black widow

Chapter Two

Cress looked up at the bomb, wiping the sweat off of her brow. She had worked all day, disarming that bomb. If she was going to be staying here for a while she wasn't going to live near an active bomb. She turned around and looked at Lucas.

"Done." She gave him a tired smile, grease and dirt covering her face. She let the tools she was using slip from her hands and land in the irradiated puddle surrounding the bomb as Lucas stood there in amazement.

A smile spread wide across his face, "You did it! You actually disarmed that thing!"

He dug in his pockets and handed her a small bag of random bottle caps. She didn't take it, she just looked at it confused.

Lucas gave a warm laugh, "That's right, you just got out of the Vault. This is the new type of currency. Bottle caps. Each one is like a Pre-war dollar. I'm paying you a hundred dollars for disarming the bomb, it's not much but it's something." He smiled and offered the bag of caps to her again.

She grabbed the bag and checked its weight. It seemed to have the right amount. She was going to have to check later.

"Thank you Lucas" She gave another smile.

He shook his head and returned the smile, "No, thank you for making it a bit safer for this town." With that he walked away.

Cress stepped into the old dusty bar, covering her nose as she attempted to block out the smell of sex and alcohol. She looked around at the wasted men hanging halfway off the counter, their faces pale and sick. Her attention was caught by a ghoul banging on an old little radio. She had read about the theories the scientist made about a human being exposed to too much radiation. Trying to contain her excitement she quickly walked over to the Ghoul. A woman, with very little clothes looked at her with an odd expression. Cress didn't bother to look back at her, instead she kept her eyes locked onto the ghoul.

She gave him a light and gentle tap on the shoulder, making him flinch. Cress eyes widened. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

The ghoul gave her a confused look but suddenly looked down as if he was scared to make eye contact, "Well, uh, what do you want to drink?" then flinched as if he was going to be hit.

Cress shook her head, "Oh, I'm not here to drink."

The woman snorted, "Well, there isn't much here, other than drinking and sex, sugar." A smirk spread across her slightly pale face.

Cress cringed, she must be the 'escort'. Shaking off her disgust she focused back onto the ghoul. She came her to ask questions and get answers. "So, did you see a man about 30 years walk into here a couple hours ago, maybe earlier this morning? He was wearing a vault suit like mine." She looked at the ghoul, desperate for an answer.

A flash of recognition flickered onto his face, but immediately disappeared as he shook his head, shrugging his shoulders. "I don't know. Many people come in and out of this bar."

He was lying. Cress glared at him, clenching her fists, "Why are you lying to me?" He flinched as if she was going to hit. Hell, she wanted to. "Tell me the truth, I want to find my father"

Sighing he signaled her to come closer and leaned towards her ear, the smell of rotting flesh making Cress gag. "I can't give you customer information, Moriarty would have my head. I would like to help you, because you aren't like the drunk assholes around here, but I can't risk it. I'm stuck here to begin with, I have a debt to pay and I still have to pay rent. I can't have Moriarty adding things to pay on my list. I'm sorry kid."

Sighing she looked at him, speaking in a hushed tone, "Please, this is my dad. I need to find him. He's the only thing I have left." She looked at the ghoul with pleading eyes, trying to keep tears from spilling.

He let out a soft sigh then nodded, "Meet me out by Moria's shop CraterSide Supply at 12am tomorrow and I'll give you the information you need."

Cress smiled, fighting the urge to hug the rotting corpse.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

She waited on the side of the building at 12 in the morning. She hugged her waist, they were right, the desert is cold at night. She leaned against a rusting fridge that was oddly set up outside. She looked at her pipboy, the green light illuminating her face. It was 12:30 in the morning. Cress frowned. He lied to her. Clenching her fist, her blood began to run hot. He set her up. Just as she was about to storm off to Moriarty's Saloon, the ghoul ran into her.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't see you there. I don't have that good of sight." He gave a small smile. "Sorry about being so late. Moriarty didn't go to bed at his usual time and I had to wait thirty more minutes to make sure he was sleeping."

Cress manage a small smile, "that's fine." She still was slightly upset that he had been late and made her wait in the cold weather.

The ghoul looked around then spoke quietly, "Your father came in looking for Moriarty, I overheard him talking about going to GNR studios. I'm not sure why, but he told Moriarty that he needed money for the trip. They got into the argument until your mother's name was brought into the conversation. Moriarty gave him the caps and your Father left."

Cress gave him a questioning look. "Do you have any idea where GNR studios is?"

The ghoul shook his head, letting out a sigh. "I do know where it is, but it's way too dangerous for a girl like you that's new to the waste." He looked at her with serious blue eyes, "There are ghouls that are basically like mindless zombies that will not hesitate to rip your heart out. Then there are Supermutants. Experiments gone wrong. It was supposed to make humans stronger, but ended up mutating their appearance. Soon the chemicals ate away at their brains and made them dumb, strong, and violent. Their all over the place in The DC ruins. Some are even out in the rural areas, so I'd be careful if you want to go poking around in some of the small town's ruins."

Cress frowned, how was she supposed to find her father if all these creatures are wanting to kill her? She need to find someone to teach her about the wastes. To teach her how to use a gun. How to survive. She looked at the ghoul who seemed to begging her silently not to go. She shook her head, "Do you know anyone who can help me in the waste, or teach me anything?"

The ghoul let out a slightly irritated sigh and shrugged his shoulders, a piece of rotten flesh falling to the ground. Cress fought back the urge to vomit. "I don't really know anyone. You could ask Jericho, he's an old raider, but…"He checked over Cress then shook his head, "With a goody-two-shoes like you, I doubt he'd want to help you." They started to walk back up to the saloon. He noticed her looking at the ground, a sad expression written on her face. "Listen kid, Moria knows some things about the waste, and maybe if you ask Billy Creel he may help you, but's all I know."

Suddenly Cress's eyes widened, "You traveled in the wastes for years. You have to know how to shoot a gun and learn how to find food."

The ghoul cut her off, "No, I'm not telling you anymore information. I'm sorry, but i need to go." They stopped at the saloons back door, "I need to get some rest for tomorrow. Good luck kid." He opened the door and walked in, leaving Cress alone in the dark.

Cress walked back into her new house, she waved at her robot, Mr. Wadsworth and dragged her feet up the metal staircase. Sitting down on the grimy bed she looked up at the ceiling, lost in thought. Slowly she drifted into a deep sleep.

There was a faint taste of blood was in her mouth, and she could hear the sounds of the vault alarms going off. The screams of a familiar voice filled her ears. Jonas? She tried to move her arms and legs, but nothing happened. All she saw was darkness as the sounds got louder. She opened her mouth to scream but nothing came out. The screams were cut off as the sound of metal hitting flesh and cracking bone echoed in her head. Cress felt as if she was going to vomit. Her vision slowly came back as she saw Jonas's dead mangled body on the floor, surrounded by a red sticky liquid. She looked down to find a lead pipe in her hand, coated in her friend's blood. She let out a screech and dropped the pipe, in clicking on the ground. Tears filled Cress's eyes as she hugged herself. No...She didn't kill him. She never would do that. Vision blurry with tears she looked up, another man standing over Jonas's body. She blinked away the tears to get a better look at the man. She let out a small gasp.

"D-dad?"

The man didn't respond, he just looked at her, the red flashing light showing his grin. He pulled out a gun and pointed it at Cress. Her grey eyes widened as she let out another screech.

Cress shot up in her bed, her hand pressed against her heart as it thumped against her chest. Remembering her dream, a new found anger flooded into her veins. She didn't kill Jonas, he father did. She slung her legs over the bed and started to get dressed. She needed answers, now.


End file.
